After three weeks of pulling 150-pound sleds, UK's Prince Harry
reached the South Pole with his trekking team as part of a charity
expedition.
Harry was involved with the three-week-long Walking With the Wounded
South Pole Allied Challenge, a charity event during which teams of
wounded servicemen were supposed to race against each other. The
challenge aimed to show support for wounded soldiers and raise awareness
of their strength, but the competitive element was cancelled due to
harsh conditions, which organizers thought would place unnecessary
strain on the participants.
Harry joined four injured British servicemen on one team; another
included four wounded U.S. soldiers; the third and final team was
comprised of Australians and Canadians. They arrived at the South Pole
at 12:00 GMT on Friday and planted flags to celebrate their achievement,
as the video above shows.
"Our aim was to show that, despite injury, young men and women from
our armed forces can still achieve great things," said Ed Parker, the
expedition's director, according to the BBC. "
We
came down here, determined to get 12 men and women, all injured in
conflict, to the South Pole, and this is what we have done.
The feeling is incredible."
The challenge was organized to show the public that soldiers wounded in combat are still capable of great achievements. Some of the participants have lost limbs fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq; Walking With the Wounded raises funds for injured veterans and helps them return to normalcy after war and find new careers.
The teams' arrival at the South Pole marked the end of their
200-miles trek across Antarctica in minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit, made
even colder by high winds.
Prince Harry, who also joined Walking With The Wounded's charity trek
in the North Pole in 2011, became the first member of the British royal
family to ever reach the South Pole.
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